Jacob h



(No Model.)

' J. H. LEROW.

ELASTIC BED BOTTOM.

No. 254,344. Patented Feb. 28,1882. 7

Jaye V J25 tor/1 y N. PETERS mlv-Liihographzn wasm ton. C.

UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

JACOB H. LEROW, OF CHICAGO, ILLINOIS, ASSIGNOR OF ONE-HALF TO CHARLES W. FAIRRINGTON, OF SAME PLACE.

ELASTIC BED-BOTTOM.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 254,344, dated February 28, 1882.

Application filed January 16, 1882.

To all whom it may concern Be it known that I, JACOB H. LEROW, of Chicago, Illinois, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Elastic Bed-Bottoms, of which the following is a specification.

The object is to so construct the bed-bottom as to cheapen the manufacture of the same and give the surface a compound or double yielding capacity; and the invention consists in the construction hereinafter more particularly described and claimed.

The accompanying drawings illustrate the invention.

Figure 1 is a perspective view of a bed-bottom containing the invention. Fig. 2 is a portion of a side view enlarged. Fig. 3 is a portion of an end view enlarged. Fig.4 is a portion of a plan or top view enlarged.

In the drawings, A designates the side and A the end rails of the bed-bottom frame, which is so constructed as to fit inside of the rails of the bedstead and be supported therein on slats in the usual manner.

The bed-bottom frame should be securely fastened together and braced to prevent rockmg The cross-rails A are made about halfas high as the side rails at the ends, and to the top of the cross-rails at the head and foot are hinged supplemental rails A. The top of the side rails is provided with a socket, s, in the ends of each rail, and a spiral or other spring, 8, is placed therein and projects out against the supplemental rails at each corner of the bed-bottom near the upper edge of the supplemental rails, which are also provided with recesses or sockets to receive the opposite ends of the springs to retain them in place.

A bolt or screw, b, may be employed, use:

sired, in the sockets of the side rails, so as to operate against the end of the sprin g, to ti ghten or loosen the spring to produce the required tension of the bed-bottom.

The bed-bottom is composed of strips a, of hoop-iron, stretched lengthwise and secured to the cross-pieces A, about two inches apart, and extending up over the supplemental rails,where the strips rest on rubber springs 8 secured to the upper outer corner of the supplemental by the springs 8 (No model.)

rails under the strips. Weight put upon either side of the bed-bottom so constructed causes a contraction of the springs s, which affords a yieldingofthe entire bottom or all of the strips, and in addition to such yielding of all the strips there is a further yielding of strips directly under or in contact with the weight afforded This latter yielding ati'ords protection to the individual strips, and prevents their breaking by any sudden strain thrown upon one or more of them, and the double systems of springs coact in producing avery desirable elasticityof surface in the bedbottom, which sustains two persons of unequal weight without any sagging or inclination toward the greater weight. Thus a bed-bottom of simple construction, easy of manufacture, and of great durability and elasticity is made in the manner shown. The hinges securing the supplemental to the cross-rails are shown at c. There should be two or more of these hinges at each end of the bed-bottom. I also employ a strip, 6, secured to the top of the supplemental rails to give them the necessary strength to prevent bending by the weight on the bed-bottom.

I am aware that bed-bottoms have heretofore been shown in which wires were strained over the end rails with rubber springs under the wires but my invention does not include such an arrangement, nor is the same practicable, because the rubber springs alone, so arranged, will not afford sufiicient elasticity, nor the proper elasticity of the bed-bottom. It is only by employing springs so arranged in connection with the flexible head and loot rails that the object is secured.

What I claim is As an improvement in bed -bottoms, the strips a, secured to the frame A, in combination with springs s and hinged flexible supplemental rails A at the head or foot, or at both head and foot, all arranged to operate substantially as and for the purpose shown.

JACOB H. LEROW.

Witnesses:

CHARLES W. FAIRRINGTON, J NO. H. WHIPPLE. 

